


till the world ends

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Present Tense, Second Person Narration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 05:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7346503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>harrowing tales or war, peril, and lesbianism<br/>yes the title is a britney reference</p>
            </blockquote>





	till the world ends

The earth is breaking.

The rebel army, the friends and comrades you've been gathering for nearly a thousand years now, had been moving through a field. Mostly gems, but there are humans, too. Not as many humans as there were in the beginning. None of those first humans, the ones whose armor is locked away, coveted in a place only you and Rose know about.

But there are humans.

All of your army, human and gem alike, scrambles at the sudden violent tremors in the ground. Rose, standing beside you, looks frantically around. Garnet, standing on her other side, gasps at something, no doubt something no one else in the clearing could see.

"She wouldn't..." Rose says quietly, watching as the breaking ground cuts you off farther and farther from your comrades. 

"What is it?" you ask.

"Get off the ground!" she says suddenly, frantically, calling to the other rebels. "Get off the-"

She's silenced as the three of you are knocked over by the force of the moving earth. 

When you stand and get your bearings again, you can see a figure approaching. 

You see her legs first- that's all you've ever seen of her through the poofy curtains and bright lights she surrounds herself with. This is the first time you've ever had the chance to see farther up. 

Her skin is a very bright pink- harsh, almost straining to the eyes, a contrast to the pink-maroon of the suit that covers her legs and torso. Her eyes are a darker shade than her skin, her hair is a lighter shade than her clothes.  She's accompanied by a crowd of gems, not small but much smaller than her, all in various shades of pink and all wearing a matching Diamond insignia. 

Rose is looking up at her, too, and she looks scared. Rose rarely looks scared, and when she does you take it as a sure sign things are going very bad very quickly.

"Rose Quartz."

Pink Diamond's voice rings through the field. Her gem glows, and she pulls a long, bright pink sword out of her stomach. 

"I've been speaking with my colleagues. We feel it is past time to end this little stunt of yours. So," she waves her sword to the side, "These are your choices. You can come up here and face me yourself, or I can send all your misguided 'followers' on a trip to this planet's molten core."

You look back at the rebel army and see the bulk of them trapped deep in a crater too steep to climb out of, placed in the middle of the rest of the crumbling ground.

Rose stares at them for a moment, then looks to you, then to Garnet. They exchange a meaningful stare, and then Garnet takes your hand. Rose takes a few steps forward, and you try to follow, only to be held back.

"What are you doing?" you demand. Garnet is holding your hand in a grip so tight you can't shake out of it with all of your strength.

The ground shakes again and you're thrown backwards. When the dust settles there's a chasm more than fifty feet wide between where you and Garnet stand and where Rose and Pink Diamond stand. You think you could jump over it, if you tried, but Garnet still has your hand in a vice grip.

You've known Garnet longer than anyone besides Rose. She was your first ally, the first Crystal Gem outside of Rose and yourself. She's your friend, you like her, you respect her, but she has no right to hold you back from your most important duty.

"You don't need to worry about them right now." Pink Diamond says, when Rose looks back over the chasm at you and Garnet.

"I have special requests to keep those two unharmed until I can deliver them to Blue and White." she chuckles. "At which point they will decidedly _not_ go unharmed, but," she shrugs.

You scowl at the mention of White Diamond, pushing the memories of those first few millennia of servitude out of your mind. Garnet, adversely, seems almost scared at the mention of her former leader, her eyes widening and her hand squeezing yours even tighter.

You can see the glare on Rose's face all the way from where you're standing. "If you want a fair fight, you have one. If I win, you leave us alone."

Pink Diamond smiles. "'If you win'. Do _you_ even believe you could do that, Rose?"

Pink Diamonds sword, which is almost twice as long as Rose is tall, arcs down at her. But when it reaches Rose, instead of a _poof_ noise and a cloud of dust, there's a loud _bang_. The sword's been stopped by Rose's new gem-summoned shield.

Pink Diamond narrows her eyes, and raises her sword to attack again.

You tug on Garnet's arm. She isn't looking at you. "Let me go! I need to get out there!"

Garnet closes her eyes.

"You know she'll lose out there! She needs help!" you cry.

Garnet grimaces. "You'll just die too."

"That doesn't matter!" 

Garnet's head snaps around so she can look you in the face. "'Too', Pearl! Not 'instead', 'too'!" 

"I have to do something!" You know about Garnet's future powers, so she may be right. But you also know the futures she sees aren't absolute. There are always options, and if you could just get out there you could make one a reality. 

Garnet stands with her eyes squeezed shut now, grip firm as ever. You use your other hand to try and pry her fingers off. You almost have it when she gasps, her three eyes flying open. She looks at you, but pays no attention to your escape attempt. 

"There is something we can try." she says in a serious voice.

You straighten. "Alright, tell me what to do."

She purses her lips. "I said, 'we'."

\---

Rose can match Pink Diamond, if anyone can. But not forever. She's wearing out.

The rebel army watches in horror as she seems to have found an opening in Rose's defense. She raises her sword, and-

It's knocked out of her hand.

A big orange _thing_ , bigger than her head and torso, had flown in from the side, hit her hand, and exploded into pale shimmers (they looked like insects- moths? no, dragonflies), causing her to drop the sword, which in turn disappeared in a flash.

No one had been paying attention to Rose's seconds-in-command, where they stood alone on that isolated patch of rock, and they still didn't- it definitely wasn't them that jumped fifty feet across the chasms and landed right between Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond.

It was you.

"I suppose I can't really speak for Pearl or Garnet, " you say, (all three of your gems flashing as you summon another hammer), because you can't- you aren't Pearl or Garnet.

You could be Pearl and Garnet, it would be easy- a flick of your wrists, a flash of light, they're back and you're gone. But that would be a bad move, at the moment, you think.

"But if Blue or White Diamond would like to meet with _me_ -" you raise your hammer over Pink Diamond's frozen-with-shock face-

"I'd be happy to arrange it!" you smile as you swing your hammer and hit her square in the face, knocking her to the ground.

You hear distant cheers from the trapped rebel army behind you, but you don't have time to revel in your achievement. As soon as she's down, Pink Diamond rises to her elbows, looking up at you from the ground.

You take a step back and raise your weapon, but she doesn't move beyond that. She looks you up and down, eyes resting on each of your gems. She pulls a face that makes you ready to hit her again.

" _Oh._ "

"Oh."

The second 'oh' is softer and comes from behind you. It's Rose's voice, you know, but you can't turn around and look at her face, because Pink Diamond is getting up. She pulls her pink sword back out of her gem.

She swings at you and you try to block it with your hammer, but her sword cuts through it like paper. Before she can swing again you leap over her and land behind her, smashing your hammer down on her back and leaving her spread-eagled face-first on the ground.

Pink Diamond is groaning into the dirt but otherwise not moving.

There are more cheers from your rebel comrades and this time you do look up, taking a moment to smile and wave at the distant crowd.

"What do you folks think? Finish her?" you shout over the chasms to the other rebels.

You're met with different variations of "Finish her off!", and one very enthusiastic " _Kill her!_ " from the back. Before you do it, you look over your shoulder at the crowd of Pink gems standing a distance away.

They aren't making any move to protect their leader; they're standing silently, watching, as they have the entire time.

"Anything to add?" you call to them. It's a taunt, but they seem to take it seriously- they start whispering to each other. After a moment one at the front of the group solemnly shakes her head.

You shrug and turn back to Pink Diamond, still on the ground where you left her. You raise your weapon, and the ground pulls out from under you.

You stumble back, but you can't find any footing, the earth is folding underneath you. You trip, and something catches you. Long, fluorescent pink fingers wrapped around your left wrists.

Pink Diamond is about the same height as you, but she holds you high enough that your feet don't touch the ground. Your right hands go to try and pry her off of your left ones, but she just grabs those with her other hand. You try kicking her, but it does nothing. You can't summon your hammer when she's holding all your arms like that.

Falling apart seems like a pretty good idea right now, if you fell into Pearl and Garnet she'd drop them and they could run away and-

And what? The other rebels are totally at Pink Diamond's mercy. You're _all_ totally at Pink Diamond's mercy, you can't run you can't hide you have to think of _something_ -

"You think you can make a fool out of me?"

In all your panic about Pink Diamond you'd forgotten she was right in front of your face. You look into her eyes and there's so much hate and anger in them you almost flinch.

"You think you're more powerful than me, hm?" she scowls. "You're an abomination born of other abominations. You might look powerful now, but I could tear you apart and we'd all see what you really are- three puny, insignificant nothings."

She looks down her nose at you. You glare up at her, looking into her eyes. She tilts her head, and runs her thumb across your left hand gem.

"I don't think Blue would mind at all if I came back one hand short."

She laughs at her own joke, and the gem on her stomach begins to glow. Your eyes widen and you start struggling again. She has to release your right arms to draw her sword, but it's only a split second before it's inches from your gem.

You cry out in a voice you don't think is your own and squeeze your eyes shut as you hear the unmistakable _crack_ of a gem being broken.

You wait for the pain to hit you, you wait to fall apart.

You don't.

Your eyes creak open and you see her sword stopped right above your square-faceted left hand gem. You look over at her face and her expression is blank, she's looking right through you.

After a moment of staring you shake her off of your arms and fall to the ground. Pink Diamond makes no move to grab you again. The ground is completely still.

Your eyes trail down from her face, to her torso, and then to her stomach.

To her gem, fractured and breaking around something you can't see.

Pink Diamond finally moves, she gasps, as smoke begins rolling off of her form. It's disappearing, bit by bit. Her sword flashes out of existence, both of her hands move to her gem, but it's far too late to do anything. The parts of her form that are still there begin glitching, moving in ways they aren't supposed to. Pink Diamond shouts something that's unintelligible in her current state, and then she's gone, leaving only a cloud of smoke and a pile of gem shards.

When the smoke clears, Rose is standing there, sword still held out in front of her, staring open mouthed at the shards at her feet.

She blinks and looks up at you.

"Pearl! Garnet!" she sheathes her sword and runs over to you.

You hold one of your hands down for her to stand on, so you can hold her up to your face.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

Once she's close enough, your answer falls flat, as you see tears glistening in her eyes.

"Ah- I'm fine!" you hold both your hand gems up so she can see.

"Perfect! Faultless! No- ha, no need for that!" you're doing your best to reassure her but reassurance isn't your strong suit, and the tears stream down her face.

She touches your left gem, then wraps her arms around your neck.

Hesitantly, you move both right hands to her back.

After a moment, she pulls away. "What can I call you?"

You pause.

"Oh! Ha," you hold a hand, (not the one she's standing on) in front of her, as if it wasn't too big to shake. 

You grin. "Sardonyx! It's an absolute _pleasure_ to finally be here."

Rose cracks a smile, too. 

She wraps her hand around the tip of one of your fingers and does her best to shake. You both laugh a little.

"And it's lovely to meet you." 

You feel a little heat rising in your cheeks as you set her back on the ground. 

She notices your blush and smiles wider. "You are made of the two loveliest gems I know, how could you be anything but?"

You begin walking towards the crater where your friends are trapped, and Rose almost trips on something. When she sees what it is, she jumps back. 

You both stare at Pink Diamond's shards for a moment. Then Rose quietly kneels down, scoops them up, and bubbles them away, without a word. 

She looks over at the assembled Pink gems. They stare back for a moment, then turn around and begin slowly walking away. 

"Why aren't they attacking us?" you ask.

Rose looks up at you. "They aren't soldiers. They were witnesses. I suppose Pink brought them along to provide proof of her defeat of the rebellion." Rose frowns. "I'm sure at least one of them was recording the whole thing."

You think on that. You imagine the other three Diamonds watching a Pink-tinted holo-recording of you beating around their colleague.

You wonder if Blue or White will decide to take you up on your offer.

The other rebels cheer as they see you approach.

You bow a few times. "Thank you, thank you everyone!" 

You throw your hammer out into the crowd, and it explodes into hundreds of rainbow-colored dragonflies right before it hits anyone, prompting even more applause. 

"We should get to work helping everyone out, hm?" Rose says. 

You examine the jagged ground surrounding the crater for a moment, then summon a hammer. "I have a better idea."

You raise your hammer above a specific rock, then come down on it with a forceful but controlled _tap_. The ground on one edge of the crater begins to shake, then crumbles, leaving a convenient ramp for the others to climb back up on. 

"This way, everybody! And do watch your step!"

You hear murmurs of admiration coming from some of the other rebels as they start walking. 

"That was impressive," Rose says. "It takes a surgical precision to find the exact pressure point on the rocks like that."

You grin and shrug, your face heating up again. 

You spin your hammer in your hands, and it poofs away. 

"I suppose you're missing your friends. Perhaps I should get going." You say.

"Perhaps." Rose looks up at you. "I hope I'll see you again soon."

You smile brightly, holding up all four of your hands. "I hope so, too."

The last thing you see before you're gone is Rose's face, illuminated by a bright peach light.

\---

You're still holding Garnet's hand.

That's the first thought you have once you're yourself again. You can feel her cool gem against your skin, her fingers wrapped around yours. You don't want to pull away. So you don't.

You turn to look at her, and she's already looking at you. She's smiling, and you think her eyes rest on your gem for a moment. 

"You were wonderful!" Rose says, pulling you both in for a hug. 

She looks at Garnet. "Was that the first time you'd fused?"

Garnet puts her other hand on her cheek and ponders the question. "Um..."

Rose laughs a little. "I mean the first time _you'd_ fused."

Garnet looks surprised. "Yes... it was."

"And? How was it?"

"It was..." she looks to you, smiling, if a bit nervously.

" _She_ was..." you trail off, thinking of the dynamic presence that you made up only moments before.

"Certainly..."

You look at each other for another moment. You're smiling along with her.

"Something." you say in unison.

"A good something?" Rose asks.

"Yes." she says.

"Definitely." you add, nodding. 

"Good." Rose's smile falters for a moment. She takes both of your free hands. 

"Thank you. Thank you both. We'd all have been goners if you hadn't intervened." she looks away for a moment. "And... more than that. I don't know where I'd be without you. I love you both. Thank you for staying with me." 

She pulls you in for another hug, which you both return. 

"Rose!"

It's one of the other rebels, being among the ones that have already made their way out of the crater. 

Rose pulls back for just a moment. "I..."

"Go. It could be important. We'll still be here." You say, gesturing in the voice's direction.

Rose hesitates before nodding and heading off.

You look back at Garnet, and Garnet looks back at you, too, and now you're staring into each other's eyes.

"Thank you." you say.

She smiles. "I couldn't let you go in alone." she looks briefly away. "I care about you, Pearl."

You move so that you're back in her line of vision. "And I care about you, Garnet."

You still haven't let go of her hand. 

 


End file.
